I think it's because of communist connections that Russian literature was once in fashion in China. I know a handful of names, all of whom nineteenth century writers of "westernised Russian literature", that I like to say out loud, for I like the sound of them. It is a privilege to be acquainted from childhood with "classified knowledge" as a social phenomenon. This is not to say I've read widely and know much about Russian literature. Read abridged version of War and Peace in Chinese and don't remember much of it except that WD's favourite character is Andrew (or Andrei? There's no way of knowing since they're the same in Chinese translation). Read Anna Karenina but didn't understand what the point is esp of the character Levin (Now I can google it up though, before Microsoft crushes it.) Once, when playing with Jo's dogs reached a peak, I thought of getting my own dog and calling it "Dotstoevsky", or "Dots" for short. In general though, Russian novels, the poverty, the schizophrenic characters, are a little depressing.